


Why Are You On the Bridge?

by panicking



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-17 00:59:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1368097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panicking/pseuds/panicking
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>McCoy is always on the bridge, so Uhura decides she has to know why.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Why Are You On the Bridge?

McCoy had been on the bridge for a suspiciously long time, and Nyota couldn’t fathom why. However, she did have a very small, sneaking suspicion. Eventually, her curiosity got the better of her and she spoke up. “McCoy? Why are you on the bridge?”  
“What?” asked McCoy, his head snapping up.  
“Why are you on the bridge?” she repeated, tilting her head.  
“Well,” he answered, looking down. “We started inventory today and after a few hours, Nurse Chapel kicked me out for being ‘too picky.’” Nyota nodded and looked back down at her work. That was highly likely, but she still wondered why the bridge, necessarily.

+++

The next day, McCoy wandered onto the bridge after about an hour of the shift. Nyota raised her eyebrows but kept her questions to herself for the time being. McCoy walked over to the captain and struck up a conversation. After another hour, Nyota could not contain herself. “McCoy?” she asked hesitantly. He looked over at her, and, after nodding to the captain, walked next to her station.   
“Yes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“Why are you on the bridge?” she asked, smiling slightly.  
“It’s the second day of inventory,” he drawled. “And apparently I’m too picky to help for more than an hour. Nurse Chapel kicked me out again, so I came up here.” Nyota nodded, her curiosity alleviated for the time being.

+++

The following day, Nyota kept an eye out for McCoy, but she didn’t see him on the bridge anywhere during her shift. At the cafeteria, she sought him out, eventually finding him and sitting down right next to him. “No visit to the bridge today?” she asks. He shook his head in response and took a sip of orange juice.  
“We got to the top shelves in inventory today and Nurse Chapel needed me to reach it,” he said, smiling ruefully. “Glad that I’m needed for something.” Nyota laughed lightly, her eyes searching McCoy’s face but not finding anything.

+++  
Nyota blinked sleep from her eyes as she walked onto the bridge at the start of her shift, and looked around to see Chekov in deep conversation with Scotty. She smiled softly, glad that the two lovebirds finally figured it out. She sat down at her station, focusing her attention on the work in front of her. A few hours passed and the door to the bridge opened, revealing a singular McCoy. He stepped out and looked around until he saw Nyota. Walking over to her, he started talking. “Uhura? We’re on the last day of inventory and have a few things left over that aren’t in English. Could you come translate them for us?” Nyota smiled and nodded, following McCoy back to sickbay.  
“You know, McCoy, you could have just commed me and I would have come,” Nyota said.   
“Oh. Um, I guess I could have,” McCoy muttered slowly, getting out of the elevator and walking off faster than Nyota would have liked. They reached sickbay just as Nurse Chapel started to walk out. She smiled and led Nyota directly to the assortment of medicines on the counter. They waved McCoy away and turned toward the counter.  
“Christine,” Nyota started hesitantly, handing over a bottle of suspicious green goop. Christine Chapel looked up, motioning for Nyota to continue. “Has Doctor McCoy been acting weird lately? Or stranger than normal?”  
“I don’t think so,” Christine laughed, glancing back at the doctor as he started to test the biobeds in room over. “Well, now that you mention it, he has been acting a little queer. I can’t exactly place it, but he hasn’t seemed quite himself lately.” At that moment the captain waltzed in, clearly happy with himself. Christine and Nyota turned as one to watch the exchange between the captain and the CMO.  
“Guess what I did, Bones! Guess!” said the captain, looking intently at McCoy.  
“You finally figured out how to not get beat up for a whole week?” McCoy drawled, looking right back at the captain. “Or you found out how to successfully get drunk but not have a hangover the next morning?” The captain blinked because he actually had been trying something of the like.  
“No, Bones,” he said, slinging his arm around the doctor’s shoulder and turning to face the same way as him, bringing his other arm forward and across like he was unveiling something. “The next planet on our route? It has the best beer in the universe. In the universe, Bones! There’s over twelve hundred flavors! All in one place!” Jim sighed dreamily, practically floating out of medbay. He turned around, almost as an afterthought, saying, “We might have to stay a whole week, Bones! Scotty said that we needed some new pipes for the Enterprise after that last attack, and it could be a while before he can get them! A whole week, Bones!” At that, he drifted off into the corridor, leaving medbay strangely quiet.  
“The bastard’ll get himself alcohol poisoning,” McCoy muttered to himself, returning to his work of testing the biobeds. Christine and Nyota turned towards each other with newfound knowledge in their eyes.  
“Jim Kirk,” they breathed in unison, smiling hugely.  
“I can’t believe it,” said Christine, glancing every few minutes back at McCoy. “I mean, it makes total sense. They were practically inseparable back at the Academy, and now that they’re still together 24/7, well,” she trailed off, grabbing the next bottle from Nyota and placing in back on the shelf.  
“I was pretty sure how McCoy felt about the captain,” admitted Nyota sheepishly. “But I didn’t realize that Jim felt it back.” They continued their work in awed silence, occasionally looking over their shoulders at McCoy.  
“That’s why!” exclaimed Christine half an hour later as they were finishing up the last few bottles. Nyota looked at her curiously, tilting her head to the side.  
“Why what?” she asked.  
“Why Leonard volunteered to go get you personally. He could have just commed you, but then he wouldn’t have been able to see the captain, would he?” Nyota nodded, comprehension dawning.

+++

A tray slammed down in front of Nyota and she raised her eyes toward the visitor. This wasn’t uncommon in the cafeteria, although most people did not slam their trays down. Most people also happened to have pointed ears and answer to the name of Spock. Most people were really just one person who happened to be her boyfriend, but that was beside the point. Her eyes had surely glazed over, and the tray-slammer stared at her expectantly. Nyota blinked, coming out of her daze. When she actually looked over the other side of the table, she found Christine Chapel grinning mischievously.  
“What is it?” asked Nyota hesitantly, concerned for the life of her friend’s blueberries. They were in serious danger of rolling off of her plate.  
“We need to get them together,” answered Christine, looking around for either McCoy or Kirk and finding neither. Nyota smiled at this, stopping her fork from reaching her mouth. “I know what to do.”

+++

The next day Nyota nodded to her special team: the bridge crew who were in on the plan. Spock had been invited but politely declined. As soon as McCoy walked onto the bridge that day, it would start. They were to take turns. Starting with Nyota, then going to Chekov, Sulu, and Scotty, returning to Nyota where the whole cycle would start over again. It was Christine’s job to get McCoy out of sickbay and onto the bridge as often as possible. Preferably, he would go of his own accord, and it would work even better. As predicted, McCoy showed up about halfway through the shift, muttering about those “idiots who can’t take even a little hypo.” He meandered over to the captain, where he took part in a rousing argument about how painful hypos actually are.  
As the conversation dulled, Nyota nodded at Chekov, who piped up rather innocently with, “Why are you on the bridge, Doctor?” All eyes turned to McCoy, who frowned accusingly at Chekov.  
“Christine told me to take a break because I was too rough with the group of redshirts getting their vaccines,” he answered, his fierce scowl relaxing slightly as the majority of the bridge crew stopped looking at him. After he calmed down enough, McCoy left, eliciting a stream of giggles from all involved with the plan. The captain looked around curiously, but decided to let the matter go. 

+++

Nyota watched as Sulu waited in anticipation, eagerly awaiting his chance to talk to McCoy. Three hours into their shift, McCoy stormed in, frowning angrily at the captain’s back. “Jim! You missed your appointment at the start of the shift. Follow me,” huffed McCoy, hand on the back of the captain’s shirt, pulling him into motion.  
“Whoa, Bones. Are you sure it’s my turn? I didn’t get any reminder on the PADD today, so you must be wrong,” said the captain, attempting to wriggle his way out of the doctor’s firm grip. McCoy yanked and frowned harder, so Sulu took the silence as his golden opportunity. “Why are you on the bridge, Bones? Couldn’t you have commed the captain to come down to medbay?”  
“Jim never listens to my comms,” he answered, to which Kirk gasped slightly in pretend surprise.  
“But you could have had Nurse Chapel comm him or do it over the loudspeakers,” pressed Sulu, wanting to see what response the doctor had in store.  
“Oh look. It seems that you’re scheduled for an appointment in 20 minutes, Sulu,” said McCoy, slightly too cheerfully for the situation.  
“But you didn’t look at anything…” muttered Sulu.  
“Oh yes I did,” responded McCoy brusquely, glaring at Sulu. “I looked at your cheerful face and knew there was something much too happy about it, so I did something.” McCoy stalked off, Kirk in tow.

+++

Nyota swiveled towards the door when it opened and was not surprised when she saw Doctor McCoy standing there. He walked to the captain’s chair and started talking to the man sitting in it. Once their conversation dulled, Nyota nodded to Scotty, who proceeded to ask, “Why are you on the bridge, Doctor?” McCoy turned slowly to Scotty, glaring at him.  
“Why are you on the bridge, Scotty?” he responded, focused intently on his target.  
“I’m resyncing the controls with the engine so she responds faster to the lighter touches. Again, why are you on the bridge?” asked Scotty, staring defiantly back.  
“I came to inform Jim that the planet we are about to land on in two day’s time has only 300 kinds of beer suitable for human consumption instead of the alleged 1200,” responded McCoy. Scotty’s face fell, for he had also been excited about the beer planet.  
“Only 300?” he asked, the question of McCoy’s bridge presence forgotten in light of the recent tragedy. Elated with his successful diversion, McCoy nodded solemnly before exiting through the sliding door.

+++

Nyota walked onto the bridge, confident that McCoy would have a horrible reason for his presence on the bridge. They had laid off of him for a few days, lulling him into a false sense of security. This meant that he was on the bridge practically every day and actually had to be called to back to medbay once. He had practically sprinted off, face flushing from embarrassment because he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. Nyota chuckled to herself at the memory. That day she had happened to meander over to medbay and have a nice little chat with the doctor.  
After approximately three hours of the shift, McCoy walked onto the bridge and looked around curiously. Nyota allowed herself a small smile and cleared her throat softly. “Why are you on the bridge, Doctor McCoy?” she asked, making eye contact with him.  
“I,” he frowned, as if he knew she was up to something. “I’m looking for Scotty. Chekov!” he said, raising his voice slightly. Chekov turned around immediately, eyebrows raised.  
“Yes, Doctor?” he replied curiously.  
“Where is Scotty at the moment?” asked McCoy. “I couldn’t find him in engineering.”  
“Well, he’s probably in the cafeteria,” suggested Chekov, smiling slightly. McCoy nodded and walked off, glancing at the captain, who had watched the whole exchange with a calm expression. They nodded at each other and McCoy left, leaving the crew to return to their business as usual.

+++

Leaning back in her seat, Nyota closed her eyes briefly, wondering what McCoy was up to and why he hadn’t come up to the bridge yet. She would have to ask Christine about it--maybe the doctor was busier than normal because they had just come back from shore leave and had to deal with the hangovers of most of the crew. Just as she had this thought, the doctor walked onto the bridge. She didn’t bother to open her eyes because she knew that Chekov had this covered. She counted to four, then, just as expected, heard a distinct Russian voice asking a question.   
“Why are you on the bridge, Doctor McCoy?” She could hear McCoy sigh loudly before he answered.  
“I’m here to take Lieutenant Uhura down to medbay,” he responded, walking closer to Nyota. “Uhura? Nurse Chapel asked for me to get you,” he said, confusion evident in his voice. Nyota opened her eyes and got up out of her chair, nodding at Chekov. McCoy led the way to medbay silently; occasionally taking sidelong glances at Nyota.  
“What is it, Doctor?” she asked, walking fast to keep up with him.  
“Oh, nothing,” he responded evenly and entered the medbay, leaving for his office before directing her to Nurse Chapel’s.

+++ 

Nyota flung her ponytail over her shoulder, glancing around the bridge as she did so. Doctor McCoy had not yet made an appearance on the bridge and it was five hours into their shift. She glanced at Sulu worriedly, beckoning him toward her. “What if he doesn’t come today?” she asked, looking at Sulu.  
“He’ll come, don’t worry. And if he doesn’t? Then maybe he was really busy today or felt like he needed a break from our relentless questioning,” he said with a smile. Nyota nodded and waved Sulu back to his seat. She looked up to find the captain looking at her curiously, which she ignored. Half and hour later, the door to the bridge opened and she turned toward it. She sighed gratefully when she saw that it was Doctor McCoy and she smiled at Sulu, who grinned back.  
“Why are you on the bridge, Doc?” he asked innocently. McCoy found Sulu and glared at him.  
“It’s Tuesday,” he responded grumpily. Sulu’s eyes widened ever so slightly, looking at Nyota for guidance. She shrugged helplessly, as confused as he. Sulu looked back at the doctor to find him still glaring.  
“Just asking,” amended Sulu, turning back around to dive into his work. Nyota saw Chekov elbow Sulu and both glance back up at the doctor, who was now deep in conversation with the captain. They grinned and returned to their work. 

+++

Nyota glanced at Scotty as the door to the bridge opened, the barely suppressed glee on his face confirming her suspicions of who it was. “Why are you on the bridge, Doctor?” he asked happily, leaning on Chekov’s desk.  
“Why are you on the bridge?” shot McCoy, glaring at Scotty and, therefore, Chekov, who looked back at him reproachfully.  
“I’m visiting my boyfriend,” answered Scotty calmly, blinking with a self-satisfied look. “Again, what are you doing on the bridge?”  
“I--I’m talking to the captain about a shortage down in medical and how someone took all the alcohol,” replied McCoy, with the slightest bit of suspicion in his voice. He turned to talk to Kirk, who looked up at him curiously. McCoy relayed the news and left, provoking a chorus of sniggers from Chekov and Scotty.

+++

Nyota walked onto the bridge already smiling. She was sure McCoy would break today, after being repeatedly battered by questions from the bridge crew. So she was ready as soon as the doctor walked onto the bridge, turning around and asking the golden phrase. “Why are you on the bridge, McCoy?” Without leaving any time for him to reply, the captain swung around in his chair to face the doctor.  
“Yeah, Bones. Why are you here?” he asked, causing his crew to erupt in massive smiles. McCoy immediately turned on his heel and left, leaving the captain to wonder what he had done. Spock raised an eyebrow as he looked at the door before turning to Nyota.  
“That is the first time Doctor McCoy has walked off the bridge without speaking to the captain in 17 days,” he remarked to the room at large.

+++

Nyota looked up in surprise to see a grinning yet apprehensive Doctor McCoy walk through the doors onto the bridge. She hadn’t expected him to appear after his dramatic exit the day before. At that point the entire bridge crew, including Spock, had turned to watch the proceedings. McCoy walked right up to the captain, but before he could open his mouth, Sulu interjected. “Why are you on the bridge, Doctor McCoy?” McCoy grinned at Sulu, who blinked in surprise.  
“I am asking the captain if he would like to go on a date with me,” announced the doctor, shocking everyone into silence. “Jim, will you go on a date with me?” McCoy asked, facing Kirk expectantly. A smile was slowly creeping across the captain’s face unbeknownst to him.  
“You sure, Bones?” he asked, unable to keep the hope out of his voice. McCoy nodded, still smiling.  
“I--um--yeah. I think I’d like that,” responded Kirk happily.The pair finally looked away from each other to find massive smiles plastered on the entire bridge crew, save Spock. McCoy instantly reverted back to his scowl as he glared at everyone near them, which did nothing to deter the obvious delight and relief of the crew. He squeezed his captain’s shoulder and walked out, leaving Kirk to watch him go, his smile only getting wider.


End file.
